United States

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, tried to assure global financial markets that the US economy has a viable efficient model that has helped it withstand all crises.

Addressing the US Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the State Secretary assured that the US Congress would come to a deal on the debt before August 2 deadline to avert default.

In the course of an investigation police in the US and seven other states seized computers and servers used to run a "scareware" scheme which brought its masterminds more than $72 million from victims scammed into purchasing fake antivirus software.

In a Wednesday statement the US Justice Department said that 22 computers and servers were seized in the United States and 25 others in France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

A senior Chinese official said this week that there is no cyber warfare between the United States and China as the friction has been going on for weeks over accusations that China may have initiated massive cyber attacks.

While both suffering from cyber crime Chinese and American governments in no way direct these actions, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told a small group of foreign reporters ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials in Hawaii this weekend.

A senior US official said that cyber security is now a top diplomatic priority for the United States and Washington as the government looks to build better relationship while properly addressing information theft and, thus, reducing the risk of conflicts.

Christopher Painter, Stated Department coordinator for cyber issues, said that the United States suffered a number of potential threats in cyberspace from freelance hackers to militants and potentially rival states. Diplomacy and policy was only just beginning to catch up with technology, he said.

As US and UK prepare to release first quarter data next week many experts believe the reports will show very slack recovery of the two countries. The preliminary data on the US GDP will be reported on April 28, while Reuters believe it will be 2.0%.

Meantime, the UK will report its economic data on Wednesday. Economists believe that weak consumer demand will significantly impact the first-quarter report.

Siemens is being accused by Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran's civilian defense, for helping the United States and Israel to launch a cyber attack on its nuclear facilities according to Kayhan daily report.

Jalali made a statement that German engineering company who provided Iran its control systems used to operate complicated factory machinery known as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) was partially responsible for that the Stuxnet was successful.

Top Federal Reserve officials stated this week that the US economic recovery is gaining momentum.

Sandra Pianalto, a Cleveland Fed President, said that she expects US recovery to go further at a moderate pace and rising commodity and energy prices will have only temporarily pressure on broader consumer prices.

"The recovery seems to have established a firmer footing. I am seeing clearer signs of a virtuous cycle of growth," Pianalto said in a speech at the University of Akron.

US gross domestic product may be reduced only by one-half of 1 percent at worst as a result of a Japanese crisis, said Brian Levitt, economist at Oppenheimer Funds.

According to Levitt’s view, exports account for only 10 percent of U.S. GDP, and Japan accounts for only 5 percent of that number. "Five percent of U.S. exports—10 percent of the U.S. economy—so one-half of one percent to U.S. GDP at the absolute worst," he told CNBC Wednesday.

The United States retained its top position in the "Dirty Dozen" list of spam relaying nations compiled by security firm Sophos.

"Traditional subject matter such as adverts for pharmaceuticals continue to be a concern, with some 36 million Americans reported to purchase drugs from unlicensed online sellers--but more and more messages are spreading malware and are attempting to phish user names, passwords and personal information," Sophos said in a statement.

This week a senior government official reported that China has arrested over 4,000 people for violating intellectual property rights (IPR) since November and will enforce tougher punishments to combat the "rampant" problem.

At a news conference Tuesday, Gao Feng, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security's Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau, said that his agency had uncovered more than 2,000 cases since China launched a six-month campaign to beef up enforcement of intellectual property rights last November.

American people will soon be assigned special Internet passports to roam online. The White House is developing a "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" under which the Commerce Department becomes responsible for an "Identity Ecoystem".

Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist at The New York Times, talking to the CNBC noted that the United States has "lost its leverage" in the world because of its dependence on the Middle East and China.

“Our challenge right now is that we have to cut here in order to invest there—That is the discussion we should be having,” Friedman told CNBC in a live interview. “We need a strategy to make America great again.”

The United States won’t participate in the dollar devaluation, promised the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. He said no country could weaken its currency to gain economic health.

"It is not going to happen in this country." Geithner told Silicon Valley business leaders of devaluing the dollar.

Geithner made his statement ahead of the upcoming meeting of G20 leaders where the focus will be on tensions over Chinese and U.S. currency valuations.

paysafecard, Europe’s popular prepaid voucher for Internet payments, is now available in the United States. The voucher enables consumers to use an easy and secure prepaid solution similar to cash for their online purchases. As it is the first product of its kind in the US market, American companies that accept paysafecard as a payment method can now reach out to new target groups.

The Congressional Oversight Panel said that the United States helped many foreign banks when pouring huge amounts of money into its economy. It noted that bailing out ailing financial firms during the 2007-09 crisis helped many foreign banks whose governments should have shared some of the burden.